First and foremost, this game's PvP (Player versus Player) content is not Battlegrounds from WoW, or Warfronts from Rift. I've been told it's most comparable to the PvP that was present in Dark Age of Camelot but I can't speak to that comparison. I only played DAoC during closed beta and never reached PvP.

PvP, or AvA, takes place in Cyrodiil exclusively. That may change with some future patch or content release, I couldn't say for sure. For now you can only fight other players inside of Cyrodiil. Cyrodiil does contain PvE content such as NPC's, monsters, quests and public dungeons. However, that content is sitting inside of PvP/AvA content so you can expect to potentially encounter opposing faction players while you are enjoying Cyrodiil's PvE content. You've been warned.

When can I go to Cyrodiil? Level 10. Don't worry, your stats are bolstered up to level 50 equivalence when you zone in, even though your displayed level remains your actual level. Rest assured you can fight content and players that appear as level 50 (or beyond) and still stand a chance at surviving the encounter. And no, higher level players won't automatically squash you just because their level is higher.

How do I get into Cyrodiil? This is the 2nd most common question in regards to Cyrodiil. There are three main ways to enter Cyrodiil. One of them is "standard" and the other two only work occasionally/situationally. You primarily enter Cyrodiil by opening your AvA interface (default keybind is L). You can then click on the Campaigns icon/tab on the far right. From there you can right click a Campaign and set it as your Home campaign, or Guest campaign. And afterward you can use the on-screen prompts to queue for entry into the campaign.

Secondarily once you've set your Home compaign and visited the zone you can use Wayshrine travel to enter the zone. This, of course, is not the same as queueing and may incur other limitations when you attempt to use it. It is recommended that you always Queue instead of using a Wayshrine.

Similarly you can enter Cyrodiil by using the Travel to Player feature of the Group, Contacts or Guild Roster interface. This, of course, requires that player to be in Cyrodiil inside of a campaign you have Home or Guest access to, etc etc. Again, it is recommended that you always Queue instead of using this method.

How do I get out of Cyrodiil? This is the 1st most common question in regards to Cyrodiil. The jokester in me prefers to answer with something similar to, "Joining the Alliance War is a lifetime commitment that you can only withdraw from upon entry into the afterlife. Unfortunately for you the afterlife has no interest in your soulless corpse..." The real answer, though, is far simpler. Simply visit one of your alliances 2 Wayshrines inside of Cyrodiil and use the map interface which the Wayshrine creates to navigate to any other map that you have access to (either by right clicking to zoom out to the overall world and then clicking down to a different map; or by using the Pin icon on the far right to show the list of map names and selecting one you're familiar with)... and then selecting a Wayshrine to navigate to.

NOTE: Do not confuse the Transitus Network for Wayshrines. They are not Wayshrines. Your alliance only has two of those and they are located where the original quest NPCs are for your faction's central Cyrodiil PvP objective quests (also banks, crafting stations, vendors, etc).

How do I get around Cyrodiil? Don't I need a horse? Horses are nice but, no. Not really. The Transitus Network, which connects Keeps/Forts/Castles and Outposts that your faction/alliance owns is the primary form of travel that you should rely upon. It is the quickest way to traverse great expanses and you can't be attacked while being teleported between those nodes so it's also relatively safe (unless where you land happens to come under siege, at which point you better have an exit plan!)

You will also notice that you should be able to sprint for slightly longer than normal durations while inside of Cyrodiil and this is due to the nature of how your stats are bolstered up to level 50. Gasp! I'm bolstered to 50? Yes. Yes, you are. Your level will still show as 10 or 14 or whatever level you happen to be. However, rest assured that your combat performance is bolstered to level 50 and you can safely engage level 50 monsters, level 50 NPC's and any PC that you see without being ultimately squashed for being low level.

So, a Horse, while nice, is not ultimately necessary in Cyrodiil. You can, and should, contribute without it.

Will you have fun solo in Cyrodiil? Obviously the answer is that this is dependent upon the person but more than likely the answer is: Not so much. While there's plenty to see and do, the real fun of Cyrodiil is in large group siege warfare or small group assaults behind enemy lines. I strongly encourage you to ask in zone chat (/z) for an invite to a group, check your map, see where your group is, see if there's a Transitus destination nearby that you could use to reach them safely, etc etc. Ultimately, though, it comes down to the fact that Cyrodiil is absolutely massive. Even with a 1st tier horse (17.2k gold in price) and without any opponents in zone whatsoever, it would take many, many hours to discover every Point of Interest, find every Keep and see the entire zone without using Transitus networks... and even using those you can only speed your path through 1/3 of the content. Being in a group helps you find the action in this massive, massive zone. Trying to solo leads to many hours of eventual boredom as you run from keep to keep looking for action which often seems to wane/fade before you arrive.

Siege warfare? Why yes. Catapults, Trebuchet, Ballista, Battering Rams, Mercenary forces, Forward Camps, Fire Pots (flaming oil) and Wall/Door Repair kits can be purchased for gold and/or alliance points at vendors everywhere (in starting locations and at any keep/fort/castle your alliance owns).

The point of Cyrodiil, over all, is to capture keeps in order to obtain buffs/bonuses and Emperor status for a member of your alliance and to capture Elder Scrolls and return them to keeps that your alliance owns for further buffs/bonuses. There are six keeps that control which faction has Emperor. They can be found in the AvA window (default keybind is L) under the Emperor section. You'll see six keep icons, color coded for which alliance currently owns them. The names correspond appropriately to the names of keeps on the Cyrodiil zone map.

Owning keeps that are inside of your alliance's territory also affords buffs/bonuses for your entire alliance. This is also critical for keeping your transitus lines open to speed your troop movements. Keeps include three resource nodes that, over time, provide buffs to the structure of the keep and the forces in around the keep and its resources. Taking those resources (Mine, Lumbermill and Farm) slowly reduces the buffs they offered to 0 making the keep easier to overtake and claim.

Make sure to take all resources associated with a keep before you leave it. You will also want to make sure you repair any damage you did to the walls and doors while claiming it. This will make the keep harder for another alliance to re-claim in your absence.

Elder Scrolls provide further faction-wide buffs/bonuses that are very nice to have. One scroll from each faction boosts defensive abilities, the other boosts offesive abilities. Claiming them is as simple as picking one up from its home keep and running it across the map to a keep that you own. I use the term "simple" here very lightly, though, as the task isn't truly as easy as it sounds. For one thing each scroll's native home keep is behind gates that can only be opened by claiming the keeps that protect the gate. Beyond that difficulty you must also defeat the NPC forces protecting the scroll. And then finally, holding the scroll reveals your position both on the map as a scroll icon and in game as a gigantic beam of light being cast down upon your head. You also can't mount a horse or use a Transitus network to speed your travel, which ultimately makes you a target... exposed and in the open until you reach your destination.

Once you get inside Cyrodiil and see just how large it is and just how much there is to do you'll start to get a picture of the scope involved here. No alliance war campaign is a simple matter. You are battling across an ever-changing terrain against an ever-changing list of opponents from multiple factions coming at you from multiple directions. All you have to do is get involved. Even as a typical PvE player the PvP aspects can suck you in and entertain you for hours on end because, honestly, there's very little need to let yourself succumb to 1 on 1 combat with opponents in PvP if you don't choose to do so. This can make PvP feel almost like raids, to an old-school MMO raider.

While I played a lot of PvP in previous MMOs I would never have classified myself as a PvP player, per se. I did well enough in WoW and Rift to make a name for myself and hold my own but I was never top dog and had no interest to be. I played those games for end-game raiding. Here... I find that I love the PvP system and look forward to participating in it... often. Here, I am a PvP player. Moreso than in any other game I've played thus far.